The Time Turner
by Loslote
Summary: A one-shot about Fred and George nicking Hermione's Time Turner one fateful night.


**A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any affiliated stuffs. Italics are quoted from the book.**

Fred and George crept down to the enterance hall, the Marauder's Map open between them. They were planning to bypass the hall in favor of the kitchens, but then George spotted something odd.

"Where'd they come from?" he whispered to his twin.

"Who?"

"Harry and Hermione. They just popped up in...in a..."

"In a what?"

"They're in a broom closet," George snickered. Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Should we leave them be? After all, that is a prefect's job, and we are most definitely not prefects."

"Ah, George, who better to interrupt them? A prefect would never understand."

"Well, Bill might've."

"Yeah, but Bill's not here."

"Mm. You're right. Shall we?"

"I think we shall," Fred said, grinning. They swaggered over to the broom closet. George glanced at the map before they threw open the door to check for authority figures, and froze.

"Fred...look at this," he said.

"What now?"

"Well, Harry and Hermione are in there, right?" Fred nodded, pointing at the icons on the map.

"Right. But they're also over there, with Ron," George pointed out the other icons.

"What? But the Map never lies!"

"Fred, my boy, I think we have a bit of a mystery on our hands."

"Evesdrop?"

"Naturally."

The twins crept up to the door and pressed their ears against the wood. They caught the last sentances of Hermione's explanation:

_"It's called a Time Turner, and I gor it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them..."_

At this, Fred grabbed George's arm and pulled him backwards. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he whispered.

"I'm thinking we 'borrow' this thing," George said. "Hermione's been using it for her studies, after all! We'd better put it to good use."

The twins snuck back to the broom closet. George Disillusioned both of them - Fred hadn't mastered the spell yet - and they waited for Harry and Hermione to come out. The door opened slowly, and Harry exited first. When Hermione left the closet, Fred carefully slid the Time Turner from her pocket and slipped in his own. When Harry and Hermione had darted out the door and into the grounds, George undid his Disillusionment.

"How do you work this?" he asked Fred eagerly. Fred shrugged.

"It's a necklace, so I'm guessing you put it on," he said.

"Well, then," George said impatiently and slid the necklace over both of their necks.

"And maybe if you..." Fred tried poking the charm in various places, but to no avail.

"It's a Time Turner," George pointed out. "Try turning it."

"That'll never work," Fred scoffed, but he smacked the hourglass charm with a finger. It spun around endlessly, and both twins yelped as they felt themselves pulled backwards through a blurr of shapes. They landed back in the enterance hall, where they tried to stagger away from each other but snapped back due to the chain around their necks.

"What the..."

"Bloody Merlin!"

"Who are you?"

Fred and George heard all three of these exclaimations at the same time. They jumped and turned around to see a slightly older Harry.

"Ah, Harry!" Fred exclaimed. "Brilliant, we must've gone forward in time instead of back. George, I blame you."

"Oi!"

"Who's Harry?" Harry asked.

"...you are," Fred said.

"No. I'm James. James Potter."

"Blimey..." George whispered.

"We did go back in time..."

"And we ended up..."

"With Harry's _dad_..."

"Wait, what?" 

"We are so screwed..."

"What in the name of Merlin's Aunt Ingrid are you talking about?"

"Aunt Ingrid?"

"Nice one."

"Answer the question!"

"Okay, okay! Well, see, we got hold of this, this..."

"Time Turner, thing..."

"And we were going to use it to play pranks or something..."

"'Cause we'd have alibis - I mean, the past versions of ourselves would be doing stuff..."

"So we could never get in trouble..."

"But I guess we turned it too far..."

"'Cause we ended up here..."

"In...erm...what year is this?"

"1973," the sandy-haired boy said.

"Nearly twenty years ago," Fred said, whistling in appreciation.

"Blimey," the other black-haired boy said.

"Our thoughts exactly," Fred and George said togther.

"Who are you?" the sandy-haired boy asked.

"Fred," said Fred.

"And George Weasley," George finished. "And you guys...?"

"That's Remus Lupin, that's Peter Petigrew, and I'm Sirius Black," Sirius said. Both twins yelped and scrambled away from him. They quickly held a private confrence.

"What should we do? I mean, do we tell them?" Fred asked, referring to the way Sirius betrayed James and Lily to their deaths.

"I don't know, mate. Wouldn't that mess up the past or something?"

"Tell us what?" Sirius asked. The twins jumped.

"Blimey, you're a right git, aren't you?" George snapped. The other boys, who the twins pegged at about fourth year, glared at the twins. After Fred nudged George repeatedly in the ribs, George muttered a quick apology. "I take it we're not telling them?" he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Looks like it," Fred muttered back. "So, you guys are in...fourth year, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah," James said after a moment. "Why'd you get mad at Sirius, and what aren't you telling us?"

"Nothing," Fred said, too quickly. "We're just, um..."

"Hungry!" George blurted out. "Let's go to the kitchens!"

"Kitchens?" Lupin asked blankly. The twins grinned at each other.

"Yeah. Come on, we'll show you." The twins pulled out the Map to check for authority figures.

"Blimey," James breathed in awe as he looked over Fred's shoulder. "What is that?"

"This is the Marauder's Map," George said proudly. "It shows the exact location of everyone in the school."

"This is bloody brilliant," Sirius said. "How'd you make it?"

"We didn't. We found it," Fred said.

"Wicked," James said. "Make a note of that, Peter - we need to figure out how to make that!"

The short, chubby boy, Peter, pulled out a piece of parchment and scribbled down the note.

"Right. Kitchens!" George said, satisfied that there wasn't anyone important in the way.

"Wait, wait, hold on," James said. "Can I borrow that for just a minute?"

"Sure," George said, confused.

James scanned the parchment for a moment, then grinned when he looked at the Griffindor common room.

"What're you...OI! Prongs! This is taking your stalking a bit far, don't you think?" Sirius chortled as he pulled the map from James' grip and handing it back to George. "If he starts blabbing on about how much he loves Evans, feel free to hex him," he fake whispered.

George nodded and stepped away from Sirius, clearly nervous about him.

"So where are these kitchens?" Lupin asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"This way!" Fred said, and led them to the portrait of the fruit. He tickled the pear and ushed the boys inside.

"Wicked," the four younger boys said. George and Fred sat down in the chairs provided by the over-eager house-elves and grinned.

"Could I have a turkey sandwitch and a treacle tart?" George asked.

"And could I get spagetti and a pumpking pasty?" Fred added. The houselves beamed and scampered away, a chorus of "Yes sir!"s and "Right away!"s drifting back in their wake.

"So, George," Fred said, seeing that their food would take a minute and the boys were busy exploring, "how are we going to get back?"

"Can we just turn it the other way?"

"I think so," Fred said. He took the Time Turner from his pocket and looped it around their necks. He spun it the other direction about as hard as he'd spun it the first time. "Bye!" he called as they started to feel pulled forwards.

When they landed, they were, for some reason, in the third-floor corridor. They heard someone's footsteps and, not knowing whether they were supposed to be there, hid behind the one-eyed, hump-backed witch. They peered out and saw Harry. For a moment, they wondered whether it really was Harry or if it was James again, but then they saw his eyes, and they relaxed. "Why's he alone?" Fred muttered to George. George glanced out the window.

"Looks like it's a Hogsmeade weekend," he whispered back.

"Ohhh," Fred said. George's eyes lit up.

"I have an idea," he said. "Let's give Harry the Map."

"Are you mental?"

"No. It just leads to complications. And really, he needs it more than we do."

"...fine," Fred agreed. He leaned out from behind the statue.

_"Psst - Harry!"_

**A/N: Thank you for reading, but I'll be even more thankful if you review. ;)**


End file.
